The first "talking picture" by the German-born
Jewish
director, recruited
to Hollywood in 1922, Ernst Lubitsch ("Monte
Carlo"/"The Smiling
Lieutenant"/"One
Hour With You"). It was the first Hollywood musical to
integrate songs
with narrative. It's based on the play "The Prince
Consort" by Jules
Chancel
and Leon Xanrof and is written by Guy Bolton and
Ernest Vajda. It hops
along with great verve during the first half, showing
off the famous
Lubitsch
touch, but the second half turns into a bit of a drag
as it resorts to
the battle of the sexes with the man in the climax
firmly set again in
the top position. The pic proved extremely popular and
made an
international
star of Maurice Chevalier and was an auspicious film
debut for the
26-year-old
soprano Jeanette MacDonald, an actress from
Philadelphia.

It's set in the fictional kingdom of Sylvania, where
Queen
Louise
(Jeanette MacDonald) is happy but for one thing—she's
not married.
She's
pressured by her old men cabinet to marry for the good
of the country.
After the Queen enjoys showing off her gams to the
cabinet she has an
audience
with Count Alfred Renard (Maurice Chevalier), a
Lothario military
attaché
recalled from Paris because of a number sexual
scandals. Afterwards she
invites him to dinner. It results in their marriage,
where the Count
now
has the title of Prince Consort, as anyone who marries
her can't be
king
but must be under her thumb according to Sylvanian
law.

The loud roar of the cannons on their wedding night,
which
continue
despite his protests, shakes up his male confidence,
as Alfred realizes
he has become merely a figurehead to be used only for
the boudoir and
who
must carry out all his wife's commands. A few weeks
pass and an unhappy
Alfred feels useless, as he can't do anything without
his wife's
approval.
In the film's most daring number, a tender homage to
his penis,
Chevalier
sings "But Nobody's Using it Now."

Louise plans to attend the royal opera opening with
Alfred,
as her
cabinet tells her they must appear happy to impress
the Wall Street
businessmen
granting their country a needed loan. When Alfred
comes up with a plan
to revive their economy, the Prime Minister (Lionel
Belmore) vetoes it.
Louise tells Alfred not to interfere in state matters
and commands him
to smile at the opera.

Alfred's servant Jacques (Lupino Lane) talks this
over with
her maid
Lulu (Lillian Roth), and they disagree about who is
right. Alfred is
not
in uniform when Louise insists that they must go to
the opera. She
cries
and sings "Dream Lover," the song the film so
optimistically opened on.
It ends with the Queen getting her comeuppance, as
Alfred attends the
opera
in uniform and is full of smiles but he tells her
after the loan is
signed
he will file for a divorce. Back in their palace,
Louise realizes she
wants
her well-hung lover boy to stay and suggests that he
takes charge of
the
state and their home.